How Termites Destroy Your Home

How do termites destroy your home?

• They cause structural damage.
• They eat more than just wood.
• They ruin the aesthetics of your home.
• They impair the value of your property.
• They quietly cause destruction.

 

When out in nature, termites are actually useful and play an important part in our ecosystem. They are natural recyclers that break down wood and turn it into nutrient-rich soil that helps plants grow. It’s when they’re in your home that they become irritating pests that make you call termite control.

You may not believe it but pest control actually creates billions in annual revenue. In the US alone, termites cause up to $5 billion in damages in a single year. Granted that the US is a much bigger country with significantly more structures, it still stands that people are spending a lot to get rid of termites in their own home. If you want to know just how much damage that is, just think of it this way: termites cause more damage than fires, hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods combined!

But what do termites actually do? How do they cause such damage to your homes?

We’ll be giving you the answers to these questions, so you can understand just how threatening and destructive these little creatures can be.

They Cause Structural Damage

Termites love to eat into the very structure of your home. They gnaw through your support beams, posts, floor and ceiling joists, and wall studs. The reason they go after these structures is because they are typically made of wood. And everyone knows that termites live off of wood.

Once they’ve had their fill from these wooden structures, your home immediately becomes an unsafe place for you and your family and it may be rendered unlivable until the damage is repaired.

 

They Eat More Than Just Wood

If you think you’re safe from termite infestations because your home is barely made of wood, then you’re widely mistaken. Termites love to eat wood, true, but that’s not all they feast on. If the structural supports in your home are not made of wood, termites will just find something else to munch on.

They enjoy feeding on other things like metal sidings, plaster, and insulation. If those are not available, then they’ll delightfully eat other materials like paper, carpets, rugs, and cloth. What this means is you’ll be replacing much more than just wood.

 

(Source: pinterest.co.uk)

They Ruin the Aesthetics of Your Home

Termites are capable beyond structural damage; they can also ruin the aesthetics of your home.

When termites invade your home, symptoms often arise. These symptoms include bubbling wallpaper, swollen floors, holes or craters in dry wood, buckling wood, visible mazes in walls and more.

There are also cases were termite damage will manifest as something that looks a lot like water damage. On top of this, they also give your home a foul odor when they scatter their fecal pellets or droppings.

The worst part is that the only way to get rid of the smell and unsightly stains is to completely replace everything.

 

They Impair the Value of Your Property

If termites cause extensive structural and aesthetic damage to your home, then the resale value of your property will naturally drop. Selling a damaged home “as is” will mean accepting and settling for lower bids.

Even if you do get all the damage repaired, it still won’t guarantee that property value will go back to normal. In fact, some buyers may use your home’s history of termite infestation as a bargaining chip in order to negotiate a lower price.

 

They Quietly Cause Destruction

The scariest thing about termites is not the rate at which they destroy your home – because it actually takes years before they do substantial damage – but the fact that they can invade your home without your knowledge. Knowing that a colony or two of 50 to 60 thousand termites could be crawling around in your home at any time is enough to send shivers down one’s spine.

They can remain undetected for years because signs don’t usually show up for months or years and they are called the “silent destroyers” because of this.

 

Key Takeaway

The cost to repair termite damage is much higher than the cost to prevent it, so make sure to call termite control as soon as you spot any sign of termite infestation in your home. If you don’t, then be prepared to have your home structurally and aesthetically destroyed and for its overall property value to drop.

Termites are destructive and infuriating but there are many ways to effectively get rid of them. All you have to do is to ask your pest control operator and your home will be termite free in a matter of days!